Overview

The Supreme Court last term decided six cases that involved the Fourth Amendment and a seventh that arguably should have. The collective result has left more than a few commentators scratching their heads.

Where is the Court going? How can it be that, after 200 years, it still cannot agree on the answers to so many fundamental questions?

To help attendees make sense of the 1998 term's forays into the realm of searches and seizures, Loyola Chicago School of Law Prof. Alan Raphael will moderate a discussion of each case.

Panelists will include Fourth Amendment expert Ed Butterfoss, Dean of the Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn., and the author of a recent law review article on Minnesota v. Carter; Charlie Diemer, Chief Deputy with Minnesota's Dakota County, whose position in the Carter case was vindicated by the Supreme Court, and Rita Fry, the Cook County (Ill.) Public Defender whose opposition to Chicago's gang ordinance prevailed in Chicago v. Morales, a case decided on due process grounds but with important Fourth Amendment implications. Rick Deane, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, will bring to bear his extensive federal trial experience.

Other cases on the docket during this lively 90-minute discussion include:

Knowles v. Iowa (striking an Iowa law granting police the right to conduct a full-blown and warrantless "search incident to citation" whenever they stop a motorist for a minor traffic offense)

Wyoming v. Houghton (ruling that once a driver's conduct gave police probable cause to search his car, they properly undertook a warrantless search of a purse that his passenger had left on the seat)

Florida v. White (police don't need a warrant to seize an automobile from a public place -- all they need is probable cause to believe the car is forfeitable "contraband")

Wilson v. Layne and Hanlon v. Berger (police violated the Fourth Amendment when they invited reporters and photographers to accompany them into a suspect's home during the execution of a search warrant)

Sponsor: Standing Committee on Public Education
Co-sponsor: Section for Individual Rights and Responsibilities